There's a reason why DeRozan never gets any call from the officials

DeRozan fades all the time whenever he drives the ball avoiding contact, sometimes changing shot INSTEAD of just going straight to the basket HARD.

That play late in the 4th was a great example. That was not a foul. And i'm glad that Matt and Jack finally tells it the way it is instead of constantly calling "no foul called" whenever DeRozan drives the ball.

1) Dunk everything - or at least try
2) Cradle ball like a RB
3) No hanging, sure you can, but in around 7fters with arms raised, what is that going to do for you?
4) Shoot the ball, don't push it off the backboard.

He has got better in 3 and 4 but unfortunately it has also coincided with not driving the ball at all of late.
He has done 2 off and on this year.
To say 1 is inconsistent is a gross understatement.

Very true about Demar. It's funny, because it wasn't a problem in his first couple of years. In fact, I remember being constantly frustrated by his straight drives to the basket where the D would always be ready for him. It's like instead of learning to finish through that (go up stronger, develop a change of speed or direction or something on his drive), he just started trying to finish crazy shots around the D...weird layups and fadeaways.

As for T-Ross...people need to chill out. Every time he has a good game, people are calling for him to play 40 minutes a night. He still has a lot of work to do, and he'll get there. His game looks a bit smoother than DD as a rookie, but apart from shooting, he has just as much work to do on the rest of his game, especially dribbling and passing.
It's extra funny when you talk about driving the basket. Almost every single time Ross converts at the rim he's wide open. Last night was the first time I saw him actually complete a dribble drive move to the rim in the halfcourt (and the D was far from set). And other than that, the only 2 other nasty dunks that actually had obstacles were the putback over Reddick, and the one that didn't count over Jason Smith(?) against NOH because Amir got called for a foul.

Now as for minutes.....Ross needs to take some of AA's minutes. Casey needs to stop this love affair with AA. AA is a very valuable 4th wing, D and 3 pt shooting specialist, who it's fine to see make smart plays like pump fake and drive or take a shorter jumper....
If you hate Demar, that's fine, to each they're own, but really there is no reason that with the team built as it is and Ross looking comfortable that Ross shouldn't be averaging 25-30 minutes a night. Basically, AA's and Ross' minutes should literally be flipped around, and Fields' time is more or less where it should be already. Especially if you consider Ross' strengths are more or less the same as AA's (shooting and D).

Very true about Demar. It's funny, because it wasn't a problem in his first couple of years. In fact, I remember being constantly frustrated by his straight drives to the basket where the D would always be ready for him. It's like instead of learning to finish through that (go up stronger, develop a change of speed or direction or something on his drive), he just started trying to finish crazy shots around the D...weird layups and fadeaways.

As for T-Ross...people need to chill out. Every time he has a good game, people are calling for him to play 40 minutes a night. He still has a lot of work to do, and he'll get there. His game looks a bit smoother than DD as a rookie, but apart from shooting, he has just as much work to do on the rest of his game, especially dribbling and passing.
It's extra funny when you talk about driving the basket. Almost every single time Ross converts at the rim he's wide open. Last night was the first time I saw him actually complete a dribble drive move to the rim in the halfcourt (and the D was far from set). And other than that, the only 2 other nasty dunks that actually had obstacles were the putback over Reddick, and the one that didn't count over Jason Smith(?) against NOH because Amir got called for a foul.

Agree. Plus the fact that teams are not paying that much attention to Ross right now since he's not a focal point of the offense. Once he gets 30+ minutes, teams are going to scout him and for sure he's going to have to adjust his game to deal with the defense. I dont know if he's ready for that yet. Or worse, he'll turn into Demar trying to protect his body until he gets a fat contract.

Like what white said, Demar was pretty much the same when he was a rookie and soph. he kept attacking the rim then one day he woke up with bruises all over his body and started taking jumpshots instead. and thats where he is now. sad part is, ross sees how demar plays and most likely he'll realize hey, this is how i protect my body and possibly get a 4 yr 40mil contract. its a cycle.

1) Dunk everything - or at least try
2) Cradle ball like a RB
3) No hanging, sure you can, but in around 7fters with arms raised, what is that going to do for you?
4) Shoot the ball, don't push it off the backboard.

He has got better in 3 and 4 but unfortunately it has also coincided with not driving the ball at all of late.
He has done 2 off and on this year.
To say 1 is inconsistent is a gross understatement.

Is your "blow it up" thread still active? i feel the need to post there, hehehe

DeRozan fades all the time whenever he drives the ball avoiding contact, sometimes changing shot INSTEAD of just going straight to the basket HARD.

That play late in the 4th was a great example. That was not a foul. And i'm glad that Matt and Jack finally tells it the way it is instead of constantly calling "no foul called" whenever DeRozan drives the ball.

I was shouting "YES! YES! YES! FINALLY!!!" at my TV when DeRozan went to the rim weakly at the end of the 4th quarter and Jack said "You have to take it at the guy and dunk it on his head!"

TheGloveinRapsUniform wrote:

Is your "blow it up" thread still active? i feel the need to post there, hehehe

Seriously... at this point, despite the recent improvements, I would be 100% behind a sped-up re-build/re-tooling using everybody on the roster other than Valanciunas, Ross and Davis.

Bargnani - I've supported him for years, but he and the Raptors need a divorce

DeRozan - has shown no real, sustained improvements in his drive finishing, 3pt shooting or defense

Calderon - 31 year old on an expiring contract; asset management (try to sign him in the offseason)

Lowry - scoring & defense were both overrated; he has way more value before he signs a new deal

Anderson - 30 year old sharpshooter on min-contract could help playoff team; not in long-term plans

Pietrus - see Anderson

Kleiza - if not traded, can you say "amnesty"?

Gray/Lucas/Acy - filler

Fields - could be a good glue guy on an improved team, plus his contract & injury concern likely make him untradeable

Amir - still think Davis makes him redundant, but a PF rotation of Davis/Amir on an improved team wouldn't be horrible

I was shouting "YES! YES! YES! FINALLY!!!" at my TV when DeRozan went to the rim weakly at the end of the 4th quarter and Jack said "You have to take it at the guy and dunk it on his head!"

Seriously... at this point, despite the recent improvements, I would be 100% behind a sped-up re-build/re-tooling using everybody on the roster other than Valanciunas, Ross and Davis.

Bargnani - I've supported him for years, but he and the Raptors need a divorce

DeRozan - has shown no real, sustained improvements in his drive finishing, 3pt shooting or defense

Calderon - 31 year old on an expiring contract; asset management (try to sign him in the offseason)

Lowry - scoring & defense were both overrated; he has way more value before he signs a new deal

Anderson - 30 year old sharpshooter on min-contract could help playoff team; not in long-term plans

Pietrus - see Anderson

Kleiza - if not traded, can you say "amnesty"?

Gray/Lucas/Acy - filler

Fields - could be a good glue guy on an improved team, plus his contract & injury concern likely make him untradeable

Amir - still think Davis makes him redundant, but a PF rotation of Davis/Amir on an improved team wouldn't be horrible

I agree with everything, but I'd also be inclined to part ways with Davis. I think he's playing above his abilities right now, and putting up good numbers because of how thin our front court rotation is. His stock seems to be higher than it's ever been, which makes it the perfect time to cash in.

I agree with everything, but I'd also be inclined to part ways with Davis. I think he's playing above his abilities right now, and putting up good numbers because of how thin our front court rotation is. His stock seems to be higher than it's ever been, which makes it the perfect time to cash in.

Very true. I just think the expected return for him would be much higher than the rest of the players, so he's sort of on a tier between Valanciunas/Ross and the rest.

I was shouting "YES! YES! YES! FINALLY!!!" at my TV when DeRozan went to the rim weakly at the end of the 4th quarter and Jack said "You have to take it at the guy and dunk it on his head!"

Seriously... at this point, despite the recent improvements, I would be 100% behind a sped-up re-build/re-tooling using everybody on the roster other than Valanciunas, Ross and Davis.

Bargnani - I've supported him for years, but he and the Raptors need a divorce

DeRozan - has shown no real, sustained improvements in his drive finishing, 3pt shooting or defense

Calderon - 31 year old on an expiring contract; asset management (try to sign him in the offseason)

Lowry - scoring & defense were both overrated; he has way more value before he signs a new deal

Anderson - 30 year old sharpshooter on min-contract could help playoff team; not in long-term plans

Pietrus - see Anderson

Kleiza - if not traded, can you say "amnesty"?

Gray/Lucas/Acy - filler

Fields - could be a good glue guy on an improved team, plus his contract & injury concern likely make him untradeable

Amir - still think Davis makes him redundant, but a PF rotation of Davis/Amir on an improved team wouldn't be horrible

I was just kidding. i dont think i can handle another full on rebuild. Id keep JV, Ross as well. Davis, depends. The way he's improved this year, i think he can still improve further and add more to his game. I used to think his ceiling was Amir, but now, he may potentially be somewhat of a Duncan type player. Lanky, with a good perimeter shot but also slithery down low. I said depends because if he's not playing alongside a strong SF who can pull the double team away from him, i dont think it will work.

Im still hoping Lowry rounds up to form as well. He gets a free pass this year being injured most of last year and coming to a struggling team with no roles defined and no identity is a difficult situation to adjust to. Plus the fact that he's new, and he's dealing with 4-5 players who are new to the team as well. Ill save my judgement for next year.

I was just kidding. i dont think i can handle another full on rebuild. Id keep JV, Ross as well. Davis, depends. The way he's improved this year, i think he can still improve further and add more to his game. I used to think his ceiling was Amir, but now, he may potentially be somewhat of a Duncan type player. Lanky, with a good perimeter shot but also slithery down low. I said depends because if he's not playing alongside a strong SF who can pull the double team away from him, i dont think it will work.

Im still hoping Lowry rounds up to form as well. He gets a free pass this year being injured most of last year and coming to a struggling team with no roles defined and no identity is a difficult situation to adjust to. Plus the fact that he's new, and he's dealing with 4-5 players who are new to the team as well. Ill save my judgement for next year.

Next year might be too late for Lowry. He'd be more valuable now because he still has 1.5 years left on a cheap contract.

Come next year's trade deadline, Lowry's a few months away from a big pay raise.

I would at least explore the option and find out what his trade value is, both alone and as part of a package. His defense hasn't looked much better than Calderon's, his offense has been inconsistent and his attitude at times has appeared to be Bayless-esque. Plus, he's a shoot-first PG, which isn't my personal prefence in a starting PG, so I'm biased right off the bat.

No, no....just acknowledging that we might get better pieces for him today, than 12 months from now.

Personally, I'm torn on Lowry. When he's played well, he's played REALLY well (but as a #1 option in an Allen Iverson type role). I'm not sure if that's the type of PG I want when building a team from scratch.

On the other hand, he pretty much had to take on that Iverson role since we have very few other weapons on this roster.

There are going to be some decent experienced PG's on the market this summer that should be available for fairly cheap (assuming BC is not handing out the contract). Then it should be considered that there are 3-4 promising PG's in the draft.

Outside of JV and Ross, Lowry is the only current Raptor to give me pause on what to do with.